D.C. to announce marijuana cultivation center locations Friday

WASHINGTON – The locations where medical marijuana can be legally grown in the District of Columbia will be announced on Friday.

Up to 10 cultivation centers can be named, but the exact number will depend on which facilities met the minimum requirements.

D.C. joins 16 states where medical marijuana is legal.

Under the law, approved by Congress in 2010, doctors can write a recommendation for the use of marijuana by those who have HIV/AIDS, cancer, multiple sclerosis, glaucoma and other serious conditions.

But D.C. native Steve DeAngelo, executive director of Harbor Side Health center in Oakland, Calif., the largest medical marijuana dispensary on the nation, says the District’s bill has some serious flaws.

The D.C. initiative “provided that patients would be able to grow their own medicine,” he says. This is key for those “having dealt with illnesses [who] are in positions of economic distress and simply cannot afford to purchase cannabis from a dispensary.”

Since marijuana isn’t approved by the Food and Drug Administration, doctors can write recommendations for pain management but can’t prescribe it.

The places where people will be able to purchase medical marijuana aren’t expected to be decided upon until later this year.